(seagulls squawking) (seagulls squawking continues) - The other day, this man looked at me.

I don't have a clue who he is.

He said, "You're the Lobster Lady."

And I said, "Well, I guess so."

(Virginia chuckling) I said, "That's what they say."

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music) I lobster with my son, Max.

I've lobstered with him 15 years.

When the weather is good, we go out on the boat three days a week 'cause I don't wanna go five days, you know, that's a regular job and I don't need that.

(chuckling) - [Filmmaker] Yeah.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) So, see, my life is all together different than most people.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) I've always moored at Spruce Head.

We leave Rockland about 3:00 AM to get down to the boat.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) We're both licensed and I have 200 traps of my own.

My son has, well, probably a little over 200.

(seagulls squawking) - [Filmmaker] That boat is named Virginia.

Now was that your husband's boat, or how did that happen?

- That was my husband's boat.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) (engine rumbling) Once we get underway, (indistinct).

- Okay, right there.

- Morning, Virginia.

(metal clunking) - [Virginia] We buy our supplies here, bait and gas, for the boat.

They drop the bait right on board.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) (lobstermen speaking faintly) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) We head out it from Spruce Head at daybreak.

It takes about 30 minutes before we reach our first trap.

If we haul 200 traps, that's a good trip.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) It gives me time to fill the bait bags before we get to our first trap.

I fill the bait bags, measure the lattices, handle the lattices, and pile up the hull.

There are limitations on when you can haul your trap.

You can't start hauling until a half hour before sunrise.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - [Filmmaker] Now how do you remember which traps you pulled the day before you go out?

I mean, you just kind of, is there a- - Well- - How do you mark that off?

- [Virginia] We know pretty well, but we do have a chart plotter and stuff.

We have a chart plotter and that will take you to where your buoys stand.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - [Filmmaker] Let me tell you, the job I wasn't gonna have, you were doing is cleaning those bait bags that you pull out of the- - They're miserable, really, but you gotta turn them wrong side out because they say they won't fish.

- [Filmmaker] Right.

- Then you got to dip them, you know, in the water, and then turn them right side out and fill 'em.

- [Filmmaker] That's what takes the most work of everything you do.

- Yeah, it's awful.

- [Filmmaker] Oh, I'd say that's wild.

- It does keep, you know, the bait does stay on, so I guess probably it's worth it.

(chuckling) Sometimes I wonder.

(chuckling) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) No, it's just, I don't have to have a license to steer the boat.

I can steer that.

As long as you've got a lobster license, I guess you can, you know.

- [Filmmaker] Well, you've been steering a boat for a long time, I guess you would know.

- Oh, yeah.

(chuckling) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (engine rumbling) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) I lived on the island in the summer.

That's The Neck of Andrews Island 'cause my father was a lobster dealer and he had a store and we slept up over the store.

The bedrooms was up over the store.

- [Filmmaker] So did you have a job during the summer, something you were responsible for at the store?

- Oh, I used to wait on the fisherman and weigh the lobster and pump the gas.

All my life, I've done this kind of thing.

- [Filmmaker] Been around a long time.

- [Virginia] Yes, I have.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music) I used to go with my brother when I was kid.

My husband started August spring in 1945.

We went with him all the time until he passed away.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music continues) I've been lobstering off and on for 91 years.

(gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music) - [Filmmaker] I guess it seems pretty natural to you, doesn't it?

- Yes, it does.

I like to do it.

- Did you look forward to getting out of school summers and going to the island?

- Yes.

But see, I had a sister and she was 10 years older than, no, she was five years older, and my brother was 10 years older than I was, so I just played by myself.

- [Filmmaker] You were the youngest?

- Yeah.

- Oh.

- I was the youngest.

- [Filmmaker] So they were all grown up.

- Yeah.

- Too busy to fool with a young thing like you.

- Oh, yes.

(chuckling) But I always found something to do.

- [Filmmaker] Were there any other families on the island?

- [Virginia] They lived on all those islands, Dix Island and Andrews Island.

And there was a by between The Neck of Andrews Island and Andrews Island.

You could walk across low tide.

- [Filmmaker] Really?

Wow.

- [Virginia] Well, you made sure to get back before tide comes.

- [Filmmaker] You had to watch those tides, huh?

- [Virginia] Oh, yeah.

All my life I've watch the tides, you know.

High Island and Dix Island, they cut granite on them.

They cut granite on those islands.

Some of the post office granite was cut off from High Island and Dix Island for the post office in Rockland.

- [Filmmaker] That's the post office they tore down though.

- [Virginia] That was the worst thing they ever done, tear that down for a parking lot.

No other city would've allowed it.

Really.

- Yeah.

That's a shame.

- It was a nice post office.

You know, solid granite.

Couldn't been much better.

- [Filmmaker] You're right.

You're right.

- I don't know why they ever done it, but.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) I usually get up about quarter to three when we're going to haul.

Other days I get up at quarter to five.

That's my daily thing, quarter five in the morning I get up.

- [Filmmaker] Yeah.

- But if we're going out to haul, I usually get up about quarter to three because you gotta get ready and go down the track and get your outboard and board the hull and get stuff lined up to haul.

(chuckling) (gentle acoustic guitar music) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) Once we get on board, it takes us a few minutes to get our fishing gear on.

We try to stay dry and warm.

Then I have oil, I have, you know, rain gear where I like the fishermen, all the fishermen wear, and my earrings on and all my, well course.

I always wear earrings to haul.

(laughing) I always wear my lipstick and things just like I was gonna go up street somewhere.

(laughing) (gentle acoustic guitar music) (fishing gear clunking) (water splashing) (engine humming) (gentle music) I don't really like to sail myself when it's really foggy.

I can, but I don't really like to.

(chuckling) You'd think I'd be tough enough for that, wouldn't ya?

(Virginia chuckling) Well, it gets pretty rough sometimes.

(gentle music continues) Oh, about every day last year it was foggy.

Every day we went.

Sometimes I've gone wet to the gill, but I never get seasick.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Filmmaker] Do you remember the first time that you got to go into a boat by yourself and go out, do you remember?

- I was probably eight years old when I took the boat, and my father had two fish whalers and he would send me over to tell the guys to come to work.

- [Filmmaker] So you'd go from the island over to the coast and say, "Time to go to work."

- [Virginia] Yeah, over to High Island.

There was a guy on High Island, and there was one guy and his father that lived on Hewett Island.

Well, I would just, you know, go in, and they probably heard me come in.

They probably expecting me and I'd just go and holler and tell 'em to come to work.

- [Filmmaker] I bet if you talked to a young woman today, she wouldn't even begin to understand how different your life was, right?

- No.

- [Filmmaker] How would you describe it that's so different than how it is today?

- [Virginia] Well, when I started out with lobstering, no women ever went.

No women went.

And now there's quite a few women.

Well, that was just the way I lived.

I don't worry about somebody else, what they're gonna do.

I do what I want to do.

You know, I'm really independent.

(seagulls squawking) (gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music) - [Filmmaker] Maybe that'd be too hard a life for people today.

- Oh, I think probably it would, I'm sure.

(engine humming) (gentle acoustic guitar and harmonica music) (lobster cage lid clinking) - [Filmmaker] Now the lobster traps are different now than they were back when you were young.

They had the wooden traps.

- [Virginia] That's right.

- [Filmmaker] And some women made a lot of money netting the... - [Virginia] Wire.

Oh, the heads, yeah.

- [Filmmaker] Yeah, the heads.

- [Virginia] I used to net heads for my husband.

- You did?

- Yeah.

Net side heads.

You had to net three.

The side heads and the lowers heads.

- [Filmmaker] How do you like the new wire traps compared with the old wooden ones?

- Well, you don't have to take, you used to have to take logs to sink the wooden ones, you know, till they soaked up, then you had to take them out, put 'em in your boat, then you had to take 'em ashore.

A lot more work than it is now 'cause these will sink right off.

A lot more work than it is today.

They wouldn't do it today, probably.

- [Filmmaker] They'd throw in the towel.

- [Virginia] Yeah, you're right.

- [Filmmaker] Now, did somebody used to make the wooden traps or did people make their own wooden traps?

How did that work?

- [Virginia] They used to make their own.

- [Filmmaker] So nobody had a business just making 'em and 'em and selling 'em.

- No, no, nothing.

You had to do everything yourself.

- [Filmmaker] That's another thing that's changed, right?

- Yeah, that's another change.

(chuckling) - [Filmmaker] Well, you had to be more self-reliant, didn't ya?

You had to be able to count on yourself, didn't ya?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Couldn't just pick up the phone, couldn't just pick up your cell phone and order a pizza.

- No.

(chuckling) They didn't even make pizzas years ago.

- [Filmmaker] Do you remember when World War II started when Pearl Harbor was bombed?

- Oh, yes.

- [Filmmaker] What was it like in Rockland at that time?

- Well, everything was rationed, and my husband didn't have to go.

During the war, my husband worked over at Bath.

We didn't go lobstering then and I never worked until my youngest one was nine.

I stayed home and took care of them myself.

My son Charles is 74.

Max is 76.

William is 78.

And my daughter, Margaret, is 81.

They come for supper every Saturday night.

(engine humming) (Virginia speaking faintly) You know, I'm busy all the time doing something.

Always something to do.

I tend to the lobsters.

I have to band lobsters with my left hand because I broke my wrist and I've never been able to band them with my right hand again.

I don't have strength enough to do it.

I put it against that side there so it can't reach up and bite me.

But anyway, I manage.

You'll always find a way to do something.

(chuckling) (engine humming) - [Filmmaker] You know, I had my hand there holding on.

You know, that one lobster almost got a hold of my finger.

- I know.

(laughing) - [Filmmaker] Have you ever been grabbed before?

- Oh, yeah.

- [Filmmaker] They're pretty strong, huh?

- You're right.

- [Filmmaker] Do they break the skin when they do that?

- Oh, yeah.

- [Filmmaker] Really?

Wow.

- Oh, I've been bitten a few times.

- [Filmmaker] Yeah.

- And a crab bit me last year and I had to go and have seven stitches taken- - Oh, my.

- On my finger.

(Virginia laughing) - [Filmmaker] Did the doctor believe ya when you- - The doctor.

- [Filmmaker] Did he believe you when you said you got in a fight with a crab?

(Virginia laughing) Huh?

- He said, "Well, what are you doing out there anyway?"

And I said, "Well, that's 'cause I wanted go."

(filmmaker laughing) He really made me mad.

(Virginia and filmmaker laughing) I'm pretty independent.

- [Filmmaker] I can tell.

That's one of the things I like most about you.

(Virginia chuckling) - [Virginia] I keep getting older though.

(chuckling) (gentle acoustic guitar music) ♪ Da da, da da ♪ Da da da ♪ Da da, da da ♪ Da da da - [Filmmaker] When you meet people, do they ask ya what your secret is?

I bet you hear that a lot, right?

- I say, "Well, you gotta keep busy.

You gotta keep working.

It's not easy."

(chuckling) ♪ Da da da, da da da (Virginia laughing) ♪ Da da da ♪ Da da da, da da da ♪ Da da da (gentle acoustic guitar music) - I've probably lived a different life than most.

Now they wanna watch TV all the time, be on the computer and texting and all that stuff.

- [Filmmaker] Yeah, it's a changing world, huh?

- Yeah, really is.

- [Filmmaker] Well, I was thinking about that the other day.

You've probably seen a lot of changes come and go over the time you've been- - Yeah, I have and it's not, but not for the better.

- Really?

- Well, yeah.

(Virginia laughing) (gentle acoustic guitar music) ♪ Da da, da da (Virginia laughing) - Down to the wharf yesterday morning, some guy, I forgot what his name is now, but I've known him for a long time.

He said, "I oughta get your autograph."

(laughing) (gentle acoustic guitar music) - [Onlooker] Get 'em now, Virginia!

- I go to Hannaford shopping every day just to get out and, you know, see people.

I meet a lot of people I know just by shopping, and I know all the clerks in there anyway.

- [Filmmaker] So you do all the cooking.

Max doesn't do any cooking?

- No.

- [Filmmaker] He does the eating.

- (chuckling) Yeah, that's right.

♪ Da da da ♪ Da da da ♪ Da da da, da da da ♪ Da da da (gentle acoustic guitar music) ♪ Da da, da da ♪ Da da da ♪ Da da, da da ♪ Da da da (gentle acoustic guitar music continues)